Since the beginning of December there has been a drop in demand for Ukrainian Corn and Wheat with delivery to the western borders to most destinations and ports in Europe, as Anna Tanskaya, head of the Department of Grain and Oil Markets told APK-Inform.
She noted that the export situation has become more difficult both against the background of power outages and reduced activity of European companies due to long vacation holidays and weekends in Europe, which negatively affects the efficiency of goods handling.
“The impact was influenced by the steady domestic economic pressures, expensive and congested logistics, as well as declining global quotations (particularly on the Euronext exchange). This was somewhat offset by the reduction in supply, the complexity of the elevators, and, accordingly, wet corn part-time work. Some support was given by the prospect of a decrease in agricultural production in Ukraine next season, as well as by a rather difficult situation for farmers in view of the increasing cost of growing all crops without exception. The larger price drop was limited to the decline in the USDA assessment of world wheat and corn production in 2022/23 MG (most recently at the expense of Ukraine – from 31,5 to 27 million tons,” the expert said.
A. Tanskaya added that more than 30% of Ukrainian corn is still not harvested in the fields, which raises concerns about the decrease in its qualitative characteristics. Price pressures were further weighed down by active Brazilian corn exports, but the prospect of further deterioration in Argentina's wheat and corn crops due to the worst drought in a decade was further strengthened.
According to the results of last week, prices for demand for corn on the borders with Poland, Slovakia and Romania in January-February are 190-215 EUR/ton DAP decreased and only with Hungary have 230 EUR/ton DAP reached. Demand prices in the Romanian ports of Konstanz and Dornesti were under pressure, but did not change significantly and amounted mainly to 290-300 EUR/ton DAP and 245-255 EUR/ton DAP and 265-280 EUR/ton DAP for corn and 220-230 EUR/ton DAP.
Source: APKinform (Ukraine)